It is Time to End the Israeli Occupation, Says Palestinian President

President Trump welcomed the leader of the Palestinian Authority to the White House on Wednesday by pledging to accomplish something that many previous USA administrations have tried but never achieved: A lasting peace agreement between the Palestinians and Israelis. Trump a visit, followed a May 3 visit by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Trump said he has always heard that a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians was the "toughest deal" to close.

Abbas, 82, who was among the negotiators on hand for the historic signing of the Oslo Accords on the White House lawn in 1993, indicated he did feel optimistic that almost a quarter-century later Trump might be the president who finally builds on that initial agreement to forge a final resolution to the conflict.

We can be their allies to achieve a historic peace agreement, under your Government, Abbas told Trump, to whom he said that it was time for Tel Aviv recognizes the Palestinian State, the same as Palestine recognizes Israel's. Israel has been skeptical of a UN-promoted solution that would allow for peaceful co-existence of an Israeli and a Palestinian states.

Trump will encourage the Palestinians to see Israel in a changing regional context in which leaders of Arab nations have more common interests with Israel in terms of countering Iranian aggression and the brutality of terror groups such as Islamic State. "I affirm to you that we are raising our youth, our children, our grandchildren on a culture of peace", he said, a contention that Israeli officials would reject.

Trump began his remarks in the Oval Office on Wednesday by praising Abbas for his work on the "very important" 1993 agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians, called the Oslo I Accords, "which laid the foundation for peace".

Abbas and Trump spoke by phone on March 11, and there are suggestions the USA president could visit the Middle East this month. "Let's see if we can prove them wrong", Trump said.

Speaking through a translator, Abbas echoed Trump's upbeat tone, saying: "We believe that we can.be true partners to you to bring about a historic peace under your stewardship".

In February, Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and broke with decades of USA policy by signaling he might be open to a one-state solution.

"Our strategic option, our strategic choice is to bring about peace based on the vision of the two-state - a Palestinian state with its capital of East Jerusalem that lives in peace and stability with the state of Israel based on the borders of 1967", Abbas said. We will be working so hard to get it done.

The 82-year-old Abbas made the trip to Washington while politically unpopular back home, with polls suggesting most Palestinians want him to resign. Israel considers such payments a reward for terrorists, while the Palestinians consider them welfare payments for victims of Israeli occupation. As Abbas and Trump met, several thousand Palestinians attended a solidarity rally for the prisoners, with speakers calling for a new campaign of civil disobedience against Israeli rule.

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